Cops and Courts, March 11, 2014: Aptos school locked down during search for suicidal man

Aptos Junior High School was locked down for about an hour on Monday while deputies searched for a suicidal 25-year-old man.

A relative of the man initially reported hearing a gunshot at a home on the 2000 block of Huntington Drive about 11:30 a.m., said Santa Cruz County sheriff's deputy Ryan Kennedy.

Authorities believed he fled the home with a gun, and they advised administrators at nearby Aptos Junior High School to lock down the school while they searched for the man. Deputies also briefly closed streets near Huntington Drive.

It was later determined that sound of a gunshot came from a hammer and caps similar to those used in a cap gun, Kennedy said. The man did not have a gun.

The man apparently fled the area by 12:30 p.m. The school lockdown was lifted.

Deputies continued to search other areas for the man Monday afternoon.

WATSONVILLE

Man thwarts robbery at gunpoint

A 39-year-old Watsonville man was arrested Friday night after he tried to use a pellet gun to rob a 35-year-old man.

About 10:40 p.m., the 35-year-old was outside a home on the 600 block of Bridge Street talking on his cellphone, said Watsonville police Sgt. Saul Gonzalez.

Miguel Angel Vega, 39, crossed the street toward the man, pointed a silver handgun at his chest and demanded his money. Vega ordered him toward a fence as the 35-year-old told him not to shoot, police said.

The younger man then struggled with Vega and wrested the gun from him. He then realized it was a pellet gun with its colored tip removed, Gonzalez said.

Vega fled. Police later arrested him in the area on suspicion of attempted robbery, exhibiting an imitation firearm, altering an imitation firearm and gang participation, Gonzalez said.

Vega remained in Santa Cruz County Jail on Monday in lieu of $50,000 bail, according to jail records.